Landscape design

Landscape design

Wendy in New York

Countdown to the offical opening of the installation designed by the YAP winner office HWKN. On July, 1st

Matthias Hollwich and Marc Kushner are HWKN‘s founders. Their office won the 13rd edition of MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, an annual initiative for young talents (new graduates, architects, designers and artists) to whom it offers the opportunity to design and construct a temporary space for live summer events in the large courtyard at MoMA PS/1 in New York and the MAXXI piazza in Rome. HWKN, drawn from among five finalists (AEDS|Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio, Cameron Wu, Ibañez Kim Studio, UrbanLab), designed Wendy, a sustainable and recycling temporary installation which will open at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City on July 1 (until September, 8).
“HollwichKushner’s design is at once based in emerging science of materials related to environmental cleansing—the material actually removes the carbon dioxide emissions produced by cars in Long Island City—but also on a zany quest for a space that is simply good fun. Even passengers on the elevated 7 train will feel compelled to head to MoMA PS1 to experience Wendy and figure out what in the world it can possibly be all about” said Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA.

“HollwichKushner’s proposal for YAP 2012 is sure to make a memorable impression over the summer at MoMA PS1,” said Pedro Gadanho, Curator in MoMA’s Department of Architecture and Design. “It is iconic, but with a twist. By combining off-the-shelf materials and scaffolding systems with the latest cry in nanotechnology it is able to produce both an out-of-the-box ecological statement and a bold architectural gesture. It is economical and terse in terms of its design, and yet, through its positioning and scale, it also smartly projects different possibilities for use and social appropriation across the entire site where it sits—including the ability to reach out for those outside the museum’s walls.”

HWKN is a New York based architecture and design office whose projects span the worlds of architecture, branding, and development. HWKN embraces all facets of contemporary culture to enrich and reinvent buildings. The office is involved in a diverse range of projects that include 18 Park in Liberty Harbor North, NJ (under construction); the Fire Island Pines Pavilion, the Journal Squared building in New York (ongoing) and the UNIQLO Cubes in New York (2011, built). The office focuses on global cultural projects, large-scale developments, brand-enhancing interventions and architecture for our aging society.

Wendy features a simple, inexpensive construction system, with a 70’ x 70’ x 45’ volume. It is an ecological experiment because it is composed of nylon fabric treated with a ground breaking titanium nanoparticle spray to neutralize airborne pollutants: during the three summer months, Wendy will clean the air to an equivalent of taking 260 cars off the road.
Wendy’s boundary is defined by tools like shade, wind, rain, music, and visual identity to reach past the confines of physical limits; it seems to be an environment, not just a space. Spiky arms made of the nylon fabric mentioned above will reach out with micro-programs like blasts of cool air, music, water cannons and mists to create social zones throughout the courtyard.

images courtesy of the Wendy facebook page

Among the last Wendy’ precursors, P.F.1 (Public Farm One) (2008) by WORK Architecture Company (see in “Abitare 520″), the Pole Dance (2009) by Solid Objectives-Idenburg Liu (project published in “Abitare 505″), Afterparty (2010) by MOS Architects (see “Abitare” 520), Holding Pattern (2011) by Interboro Partners (see “Abitare” 516).
An exhibition of the five finalists’ proposed projects will be on view at MoMA over the summer, organized by Barry Bergdoll, MoMA Philip Johnson Chief Curator, with Whitney May, Department Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art.

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Founded in 1961 by Piera Peroni Abitare magazine has crossed the history of costume, architecture and design, international, following in its pages the evolution of our ways of life and how we inhabit places